#tb posting

by this i don't mean that you have to force yourself to be attracted to or enjoy people or bodies or aesthetics that you're not attracted to, i mean that you have to become capable of seeing them as beautiful, on purpose; of adopting a viewpoint in which beauty exists there

all categories of "beauty" are social constructs. they are fake, they are arbitrary. evolutionary psychologists can try as they might to find it, but there is no "universal" standard of beauty so fundamental to the human species that we cannot subvert it with cultural invention. "beauty" doesn't exist, and neither does "ugly." we made it up. it isn't real.

nonetheless, there are bodies in the world that, when you see them, you will find them ugly, whether due to socialization or experience or personal preference or whatever. and when you have that experience of "this is ugly," while you have the absolute right to have that feeling, it is imperative that you attempt to develop the capability of seeing it the other way.

being able to put yourself in that perspective is an exercise in empathy, first of all, it gives you a greater understanding of other people at a baseline, and it helps make you more resistant to being manipulated by appeal to aesthetics.

this extends to ecology as well—"it's just an ugly bug, who cares if they get rid of it?" is how a lot of important species disappear unmourned from the biosphere.

and it extends to art and culture especially. "those paintings are ugly, why should we pay tax money to fund the arts for this?" "that fashion style is ugly, i hate seeing it, i don't care if someone gets fired for wearing it"

a lot of reactionary (and often fascist) politics begin by pointing at something Other and saying "isn't it ugly? isn't it disgusting? wouldn't the world be better if we got rid of it and replaced it with something beautiful?" if you can be convinced to consider something ugly and unsightly, you can often be convinced to at the very least be indifferent to its elimination. if you are not intentional about what you decide to call "beautiful" you can and will be convinced to uplift and uphold ideals that serve the interests of people who want what's worst for you.

so long as you agree that skinny is what "beauty" looks like, someone somewhere can sell you an eating disorder. so long as you agree that smooth skin or a hairless body or six pack abs or a full head of hair is what "beauty" looks like, someone somewhere can make bank off of making you feel ugly.

you have to become capable of seeing ugly as beautiful. you have to become capable of making these decisions for yourself.

i am not, in this post, saying that you have to force yourself to be attracted to people you're not attracted to, or to enjoy art that you don't enjoy, or that you should personally feel morally bad for shaving your legs or using minoxidil, or for wanting bigger boobs or wishing you had more muscle, or for getting plastic surgery, even.

full video script below the cut